UN resolution pits victims of Saddam Hussein's regime against each other
The world may have celebrated the return of Iraqi sovereignty symbolised by the passing of a new UN resolution, but Kurds in the country are feeling unease rather than joy.
The resolution has touched off the long expected crisis which pits the two main victims of Saddam Hussein's regime, the Kurds and the Shi'ites, against each other. In the north, Iraq's estimated five million Kurds, staunchly pro-American, refuse to countenance any reduction in the autonomy they have built up since 1991.
In the south, the Shi'ites, who make up 60 per cent of the population, sense at last the political advantage in their superior numbers.
As long as the coalition forces remained in full control in Iraq, the Kurds had little to fear from fellow citizens in the south and centre.
But with the slow return of sovereignty to Baghdad, and the increasing involvement of the wider international community, they have become painfully aware of the fragility of their position, and their lack of loyal allies.